JayThree Balancing Car Project — Part 1/5

An Awesome project based on Your Arduino Balancing Robot (YABR) by Joop Brokking. See Vids!

…or go for last post: Part 5

Summary

The two-wheeled car that balances itself? JayThree Balancing Car Project!

How can this happen?

Let us make it happen!

To start-up let’s organize: I will apply the agile concepts to projects and here is my mindMap and Gantt. If you have any suggestions do not hesitate to reach me out through Facebook, youtube, Jungletronics website, wherever…

Always happy to chat!

Best,

J3.

Figure 1. This is my Balancing Car MindMap & Gantt

Table of Contents

1. Intro
2. Styrofoam Feather Structure
3. Agile Concept
4. Wheels Rolling ‘Pulsanti’ Technique

4.1. Here is the Arduino Code

4.2. What You'll Need to Know Now

4.3. Run Stepper Motor and Regulate DRV8825 Driver Pot

5. ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem here!’ How to put the modules and reuse them later?

6. Reconstructing the Car

1. Intro

Hey guys what’s up!

It’s your friend J3 here! The Hobbyist!

Just stay tuned to the J3 Youtube Channel ‘cuz now we’re taking our posts to the next level. This is the ‘JayThree Balancing Car’ Project-based on fellow Joop Brokking From Brokking.net.

This is an awesome project! Follow Prototype on cardboard to get a sense of the size of the emotion!

Figure 2. This is the First Prototype made with cardboard

2. Styrofoam Feather Structure

In this project we are using a Foam also known as Foam Paper, Foam Board, Foil Board, Styrofoam Feather, Depron, Depron Paper, Depron Styrofoam, XPS Styrofoam; they are all the same. They are rigid structures formed by extruded polystyrene foams, being a byproduct of the ISOPOR ® relative that is nothing more than a foamed polystyrene derived from the styrene monomer. Much used by architects, designers, advertisers, and photographers to present works of projects, layout, design, campaigns, and photographic exhibitions. See snapshot now:

Figure 3. This is the Second Prototype made with Styrofoam Feather

Caution

I made a mistake: I put the motor connections underneath, which will trap the locomotion. Solution: I will have to build a new car structure.

3. Agile Concept

Applying Agile Concepts for my JayThree_Balancing_Car_Project, see my MindMap and Gantt above. We have hard work in the next 5 days!

4. Wheels Rolling ‘Pulsanti’ Technique

(one day later…)

Hello, today I sought inspiration in the Pulsating Technique from Alfieri Mauro, from Italy. That it is the schematic:

These are the Parts for this Breadboard:

1 x 2k2  Resistor
1 x 330R Resistor
1 x 680R Resistor
1 x  1k  Resistor
1 x 3k3  Resistor
1 x DRV8825 Driver
1 x Arduino Uno
1 x Power Jack
1 x Nema 17 Stepper Driver 12 V
1 x 12 v Power Supply 
4 x Momentary Button
1 x 100 uF Capacitor
* x Jumpers wires

Figure 4. Testing Stepper Motor 1/2, 1/4, and Full Steps as well as Inverting Directions

4.1. Here is Arduino Code

4.2. What You'll Need to Know Now

Notice that we commented on serial outputs. Well, there are the initial settings. You need to know what the analog A0 pin is. It is technical and mapped in the variables LEFT, RIGHT, UP, AND DOWN. Enable rows:

Serial.println (analogRead (BUTTON));
//Serial.println(buttonPress);
Delay (100);

And disable:

Void stepGo () {
//Serial.println (dPause);

Run the code, open the serial, and check the outputs and note the number range on a paper while pressing each button.

This is what I’ve got (abstract the number 1023):

Test 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 735 726 727 727 727 727 727 727 727 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 495 495 495 495 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 325 325 325 325 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 137 138 138 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 1023 2 9 10 23 1023 1023 1023 …

You notice 5 packets of numbers. Your result is likely to be different. These numbers should be packaged like this:

int SELECT[] = {0, 20}; // pulsante A

int LEFT[] = {100, 200}; // pulsante B

int RIGTH[] = {300, 390}; // pulsante C

int UP[] = {400, 500}; // pulsante D

int DOWN[] = {700, 830}; // pulsante E

Return the comment to the previous code and redo the stepGo method.

4.3. Run Stepper Motor and Regulate DRV8825 Driver Pot

Make all necessary connections and test your engine. Now you can confirm that the A +, A-, B +, and B- poles are connected correctly. See the figure below for guidance.

Figure 5. DRV8825 Pinout Diagram

That’s it — Problem solved so far. We already have some knowledge of how the stepper works with the driver. Let’s continue!

5. ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem here!’ How to put the modules and reuse them later?

Solution: Arduino Scavenger Hunt! I’m gonna unsolder some peace from 2 older Arduinos! See this video:

We’ve got this:

6. Reconstructing the Car

As I have mentioned I will make another prototype. Here is the video:

We’ve got this:

Open Letter:

During this project, several fronts of battle were presented. The experience gained from the time of dedication to the hobby is important now. Simple experiments, such as turning on and off an LED, knowing how a transistor works, capacitor, and there it goes, are fundamental, they are levers to lift stones! What we are looking for, the solution to the project is not on the shelf of any online site. It springs from our will to create, it is our audacity to invent! This Project, Jay Three Balancing Car, is no longer the same … It’s been transformed! Took another Form! It paved the way for new projects.

This project challenged what I thought I knew. It instigated me to go one mile more. Flowed and expanded! I Calm down now to outline a more viable plan. Broader! As the key to maintaining this creative will resides in the knowledge I take my time, and my vacations, now to study. I chose Microgenios, a pioneer tech startup in my country. By investing in myself, I risk time and money, especially. But it will be worth it, I am sure! As my son would say at one stage of the game, ‘this is insane!’. Insanity is not to have fun! Wait until August 2017 for news … affection to those who followed me. God grant me back!

Best,

JayThree, The Hobbyist.

NEW! Finally on Aug 27, 2017: See Part 2: Click here!

References & Credits

Part 1 — — Part 2 — — Part3 — Part 4 — -Part5

drv8825 stepper driver Arduino

Centralina irrigazione arduino aggiungi i pulsanti

DRV8825 Stepper Motor Controller IC

DRV8825 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier, High Current

Stepper Motor NEMA 17 Datasheet

Mauro Alfieri Youtube Videos

My Github Repo